Saturday, July 31, 2010

Wow is this bright! it didn't totally fudge up my camera and photos like some other bright intense orange polish's I have. This is 3 coats with 1 coat of Nailene Acrylic Strong Top Coat. Most of my photos are indoors under fluorescent lighting, taking photos outside in the sun or even using flash were pointless because the colour changed dramatically...... and I will definitly need to do some comparisons with this polish.

It is a bright Koi Orange creme, not sure if I should call it a fluorescent or neon, but it is very, very bright. It is not apparent in the photos, but there is some sheer spots; this polish is not a jelly or sheer, but seems a little watery and could be more pigmented.

I am super duper surprised I haven't seen this on MUA or the blogs...... the new N.Y.C.'s are all really pretty.

Friday, July 30, 2010

Without the sun or strong lighting, this looks almost black, but it does have a nice swampy green cast to it. I had hoped it would be a smidgen more green, but I still think it's a nice colour. I missed the sunshine, but I still took a bunch of bottle shot photos....... has anyone else spotted these NEW N.Y.C.'s in stores? I think there is like 10 new ones.........

Thursday, July 29, 2010

These are 4 of the new NYC in a NEW YORK COLOR MINUTE polish's that I recently found at Walmart. There are quite a few new ones, lot of the ones I did not buy are purple, mauve and pink colours. None of these polish colours are up on their website, and I cannot find any info about them...... I will definitely do a skittle & mani when the sun rises.....

These polish's are between $1.87 to $2.99 in my town at different stores. There is only 9.9 ml in the bottle, where Wet n Wild or Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear is 12 to 14 ml for $1.57 to $2.99.

The rest of my post is some new Wet n' Wilds I picked up... The Wild Shine Polish 'Black Creme' is an amazing black~ the most pigmented and opaque black I have come across. I found those mini polish's from Dollarama = I thought they would not stock them ever again. The brush is a little stiff but they are perfect for my franken polish! .........And thats my 10th box of false nails that I use for swatching my polish collection......10!

♥

From Left to Right;

Pier 17 - a shimmery blue, (lighter than Skin Tight Denim)Spring Street - a ridiculously bright Koi OrangeFlat Iron Green - a weird swampy green with speckles in it Prince Street - a lovely purple that is a close match to a mani I recently wore; Ardene Rockin Purple, just with out the shimmer.

Worst. Black. Ever. Even worse than S.A. HAN 'Black Night'..... who the 'F' wants a sheer jelly black? This will be good for some black jelly based glitter frankens in the near future. This had no name..... possible part of a Halloween collection from a long time ago

I totally thought they would never stock these again, these are water based polish's that I rinse out and POP THE BRUSH OUT OF THE CAP and wash the brush with WATER and a small amount of soap. Then I swish a small amount of acetone in JUST the bottle and let them dry overnight.

= Viola; empty franken bottles......

More false nails from the Dollarrama for my swatching things

Wet n' Wild Shine Caribbean Frost, Bijou Blue, Burgundy Frost

Wet n' Wild Wild Shine in Lavender Creme and Black Creme

I already posted this photo = this is a reminder to me to add it to my side bar

Monday, July 26, 2010

This polish from Ardene needed 4 coats, it dried fast and it dried shiny! This is 4 coats with 1 coat of Nailene Acrylic Strong Top Coat. I was hoping that there would be some hidden micro shimmer in this polish but it is just a plain medium purple shimmer. I love this shade and I love the shimmer.

I will definitely layer this polish next time - even though I didn't feel like it was a big deal to do 4 coats. The shimmery-ness of this polish was a surprise and I didn't expect to like it so much. I wore this for 3 1/2 days!

{ Ardene is a Canadian girly store with accessories jewelery, and make-up/nail polish }

Sun

Ardene Rock'in Purple

Does anyone else remember these, below? they came in a 3 pack and each individual glue had it's own nozzle that you twisted on to open the glue.... they were very handy to have around, and if I recall they were a great glue and a good price, too!

I found it in an old, oooooold suitcase this weekend. I would put the individual glue and its nozzle into a sealed container to cart around with me. I packed it for a trip and I guess I forgot to take it out when I returned home..... I forgot all about these cute little mini-glues. Now I just put my opened glue ( Nailene glue, that is ) into a tiny zip lock bag and tote that around with me.... just in case. My pinky nail did pop off at a family BBQ this weekend and everyone was searching around for it..... I found it 3 hrs later - turns out it was stuck in top of my sandal ! That - was funny♥

Here are a few more photos- its amazing how different this polish looks in different kinds of lighting. As you can see by the small polish smear on the cap below, I still have a hard time with these thicker knobby caps.... Ill never stop complaining about it - becuase even though these drive me nutz I keep buying them.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Whew - my week slipped away on me and I am behind in my posts- Here a few older mani's I did not post for whatever reason. Does anyone else in Canada find 'Indulge in Beauty' polish's at their Walmart in their towns? For the price of $2.83 CAD, there are some pretty polish's, but I would avoid the glass flecky ones becuase they did not dry fast enough for me.

I think I planned to do a look with this vibrant pink chrome polish, but ended up taking it off before I got to it. This is a gorgeous pink polish...... it dried ridiculously fast! The brush on these is a little sparse, but workable. There is not alot of swatches of these Naturistic's Super Chrome's, many of them a dead on dupes for the old Sally Hansen Chrome polish's, they are made at the same place.

Further in the post is a very pretty shimmery gunmetal polish from Indulge in Beauty, the Walmart Mini's. I didn't get any outdoor sunshine photos of that one, but a few months ago the Winner's store ( T.J. Maxx ) had Nubar cuticle oil, as well as a whole shelf of the China Glaze Wizard of ooh Oz collection

I think I didn't post this because my nails were growing out, there is quite a bit of space between my false nail and the new growth my my natural nail. There is quite a difference between this photo and the photo above ( Ruby Reflection mani ). This close up photo really shows the amount of growth and I have to add that when my nails end up like this they are super easy to paint with very little cleanup ♥.

Nubar @ Winner's- I didn't buy anything = it's neat to see different brands showing up in stores.

Does anyone else in Canada find these mini Indulge in Beauty polish's at their local Walmart?

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Here is the type of false paint-able nails I use/ I very rarely say I am wearing false nails in my post, because I WEAR FALSE NAIL ALL THE TIME. I have a few posts with my natural nails painted, but 95% of manicure posts are either the nails above, or the old skool FING'RS brand nails ( trophy wife length ~ thank you very much)

I have been wearing Artificial nails for years and years and years. My real , natural nails are healthy and fine. I have never had a 'fungus' or any other weird nail issues. I am a very happy artificial nail user.

Today is a post about some known issues in regards to applying artificial nails. This is my opinion and my experience. I have written many times about my thin sharp and lethal REAL nails, and that although they grow fast they are very thin, sharp and dangerous. And so I keep them covered for safety reasons.

BUT= that is not the only reason why I wear fake nails. I love how easy and fast it is to paint them!!!!!! The polish dries fast, I never get chips or peeling, and I can count on my polish job lasting a long time. I do not attribute the longevity of my manicure to any brand of polish or TC = I attribute that to artifical nails.

Polish is easily removed with a gentle non-acetone polish remover. Straight up acetone will eat these up! So a non-acetone or gentle polish remover is a must. The polish remover I recommend is Sally Hansen Regular formula ( purple ) or the non-acetone formula ( blue ). I loved cutex non-acetone in the cute little pimp bottle but it is only available in the USA, so I am sticking with those 2 Sally Hansen Removers. I still need to lightly sand the surface with a fine sanding block though..... and I imagine that even though I use gentle non-acetone polish remover, the surface is getting a little bit of damage. That did not happen with the cutex remover. KEEP IN MIND, that polish remover will begin to dissolve artificial nails - so no cotton ball & tin foil removal.....

There is very little selection available in longer false nails at this time... I think that finding a longer length would mean hitting up a beauty supply store or EBay. I very rarely come across longer artificial nails anymore.

I can apply polish, then remove it several times before the artificial nail becomes weak and needs to be replaced, These WILL weaken and become more pliable with repeated use of polish remover.

Easy to find at Zellers/HBC Canada, Shoppers Drug Mart and other department stores ( the walmart in my town never has these in stock when I go there

Price; these are 1 dollar less for twice as many nails. ( whaaaat?) this may be the stores fault, and not other leading brands of Artificial nails company's price point.... however - I find Nailene nails to be priced competitively with other brands in general.

I have nothing unkind or negative to say about any other brand of nail I have bought and used every brand available to me in stores but choose this brand for the above reasons.

Here are some covert op photos that I took at the Zellers Department store in my town

Below - the 12 different sizes available in the box of Nailene nails that I regularly use.

The instructions on the back

Here is a photo of a paper towel that glued to both my fingers my right middle fingernail, and my left index finer nail/finger

hahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaa

I washed this of as much as I could and then buffed out the glue...UGH!

....and I bent that nail in half somehow......

MY NATURAL NAILS

(I'm happy to write that my middle finger nail injury is just fine with what seem to be no long term damage)

AFTER APPLICATION OF ARTIFICAL NAILS

With buffing paint T.C.

PHOTO?????????

Shaping my nails before applying artificial nails

Here I have filed the corners of my nail inward so my natural nail tapers. Before I apply nail glue, I scuff up the surface of my nail with a fine to medium grit nail file. I have no before photo

If possible, scuffing up the UNDERSIDE of the artificial nail, can create better bond with your natural nail. I sometimes use a very bendable worn out paper/foam file to do this, but I am lazy so I often use my battery operated file to do this.

Of course making sure your nails free from moisturizer or other oils, and you have washed your hands at least 10 to 20 minutes before, becuase your NATURAL UN-PAINTED NAILS WILL ABSORB WATER. That is why after a long shower.bath or repeated hand washes polish will peel or chip.... get clear polish and top coat over all surfaces of your nail to ensure a long lasting manicure on REAL nails!

Here is a fabulous diagram on how I generally shape my natural nails before applying artificial nails. The blue lines are the origional shape of my nail, and the orange lines are the new shape.

BLUE: Origional shape of my natural nail

ORANGE: New tapered shape of my natural nail

I MUST ADD THAT.....in my experience, shaping my real nails like this results in tearing and breakage. The straighter the sides of my nails and less tapered my real nails are the less they break. Even though I was gently filing my nails and taking my time and not going crazy with the file, my nails often tore at the sides. My theory is that the wider and more curved the nail bed is, the structure of the nail provide strength and resistance to tearing and breaking,.... even with my super thin nails.... THAT is a topic for a whole other post

KNOWN ISSUES WITH FALSE NAIL APPLICATION

Just like in my post about applying pre-painted artificial nails, or my other post on replacing an artificial nail I shape and lay out all 10 of the artificial nails. I choose sizes that closely match my natural nail width. I shape them to match the curve of the base of my nail where my cuticle is, and ensure that they are not to wide, and there is just a tiny sliver of space between the artificial nail and the sides of my nail.

Excess nail glue on the surface and sides of the artificial nail

Below; a fuzzy photo of the glue I used and the amount of glue NOT TO use. I used way, way too much glue for the surface of this nail but this is going to be an example of a known problem when applying artificial nails. This is not the same glue that comes with the Nailene 200 count nails. But I happened to have this small bottle of glue opened already and want to use it up before I crack open another bottle/tube of nail glue.

(This photo is fuzzy but it is the only photo I have with an actual tube of nail glue, and glue on my nail)

This is far too much glue, but I used this amount to demonstrate the result of using too much glue, when you press the artificial nail down on this much glue, there will eb a lot of glue seepage, and the glue will bubble out of the sides and base of your nails.

Having paper towel handy to absorb excess glue will reduce the amount of buffing and filing of the ( soon to be ) hardened glue. I fold a small piece of paper towel to form a point and hold it against the excess glue.

Here you can see the excess glue seeping out of the sides of my nails, this photo was taken after placing the artificial nail onto my real nail

The little nub at the tip of the nail needs to be filed off, I keep forgetting to mention that.

Here I have buffed out the glue that was on the sides of my nails. I marred the high shine that these artificial nails have - but these are to be painted so not to worry. If you happen to get glue on the surface of a funky french or other pre=painted/pre-decorated artificial nail YOU CAN buff it out with a super duper fine sanding block!

The photo above looks bad! But all that white stuff is artifical nail dust and hardened glue dust from sanding/buffing of the artificial nail and the nail glue and will wash off with water. I will add that you should try NOT TO breath in any of this nail dust or glue dust. The glue stuck to my skin at the corners of my nail towards the tip will be there untill I slather on a moisturizer and wash my hands a few times -----please DO NOT try to 'peel' off nail glue that is stuck to your skin.....becuase you will be taking a layer of skin with it♥♥♥

The evening that I applied these I used a alot of moisturizer plus a heavy duty moisturizer on tip of theat and slept with gloves on ( I do this every second night ) to help my skin absorb the moisture to reduce the bond between my skin and the glue. By the next eveningall the little bits of nail glue around my nails, as well as random bits of glue on my fingertips were gone.

So don't panic if you get nail glue along the sides of your nails or nail glue adheres to your skin in any other areas, It will be sloughed of via application of moisturizers and hand washing.

Excess Nail Glue Beneath the tips of the artificial nail

Here is another common problem that comes from using too much glue. Here on my INDEX nail, I have used too much glue and while the nail glue did seep out on the sides of my nails, much more of the excess glue ended up beneath the tips of my nail.

Here you can see that some glue seeped out on the side of the artificial nail...but......

Here you can see there is a substantial amount that has pooled beneath the tip of the artificial nail, my natural nail as well as along the area where my natural nail and skin meet; In this photo I am breaking my own rule, and prying the glue away from skin. Normally I would whip out the acetone and my small angled brush and try to reduce the amount of glue and hopefully reduce the bond between my skin and the nail. This is also the finger that the paper towel was glued to in the photo towards the beginning of this post and there is alot of glue on the left side of my finger in the photo below.

For this photo though, I did wedge this plastic cuticle pusher in between my skin and the nail.

In the above instance I would try to chip away as much glue from the artifical nail then use acetone and a small angled brush to get in there and try to reduce the amount of glue. No matter how little or how much glue I use, I will often get a tiny bit of glue beneath the artificial nail and my real nail. If I happen to have no REAL nail at all, and my nails are just nubbin's then I will definitely get some glue stuck to the skin where the free edge of my natural nail begins.

IRONICALLY although gluing your natural nail/artificial nail to the skin is problem in this instance, I do recommend trying to add a small amount of glue along the line where your natural nail meets the artificial nail. This is a great way to prevent any moisture from entering any areas between the natural nails and the artificial nail. First when my ALL 10 of my paint-able artificial nails are applied and the glue is dry, I swipe a small angled brush dipped in acetone along the underside of the artificial nail. Then I applying a small drop of nail glue to a tooth pick, and tracing the ridge along natural nail where it meets the artificial nail.

In this photo below, the nail at the left ( my RING nail ) I had alot of glue on the surface of the nail which I buffed out. There is still alot of texture due to the hardened glue on the artificial nail. and I will buff this out a little further. Also = the shiny surface is dull of that finger due to the sanding/buffing.